Liam Walker takes Yorkshire Centre opener
By Barry Robinson on 6th Feb 19
Liam Walker shrugged off the ice and snow on Sunday at the exposed Keighley Gate, Ilkley Moor venue to win the first Yorkshire Centre Championship trial of the year.
It was no easy ride for the 97 competitors but judicious section plotting in the deep valleys yielded low penalties.
The clerk of course had held off the actual section marking until just after dawn on Sunday morning as snow and zero temperatures were the deciding factors in the Aire Valley.
Expert class contender Tom Mintas first lap dab in section sorted a tie-breaker in favour of Walker who rode through the first nine sections without fault.
Richard Sadler was right on the top two until he incurred a two-mark penalty in the twelfth section on lap two. The same section took both Walker and Minta for singles.
Dan Thorpe headed the double-figure scorers ahead of TRS-mounted Sam Beecroft-Penny and top Inter Thomas Housecroft.
Teenage Novice Charlie Smith won his class and was eighth in the overall count just ahead of Sam Yeadon, who was one of the dawn workers on Sunday.
Class A Youth Brett Harbud led the way, leaving Harry Turner to joust with Harry Hemingway.
The Old Firm was in charge of Clubman A with Andrew Jackson taking it by a dab from Jamie Stephenson and Rob Bratley, who lost out on second place on most cleans.
The Leg aka George Hemingway just sneaked Clubman A youth from Owen Chestnut by a dab, with Henry Stephenson riding his new TRS to a close third place.
Phillip Hammond salvaged Clubman B from Howard Dixon and Andy Turner, who held off Chris Greenwood and Neil Gaunt.
That duo and Ian Haigh were all four-stroke powered.
Results
Hard course
Expert: Liam Walker (Gas Gas) 2 (fc), Tom Minta (Scorpa) 2, Richard Sadler (JST Gas Gas) 3.
Inter: Thomas Housecroft (Beta) 17, Louis Haley (Montesa) 32, Joel Tett (Beta) 56.
Novice: Charlie Smith (Beta) 18, William Tolson (Beta) 20, Aldis Blacker (Gas Gas) 27
Youth A: Brett Harbud (Beta) 17, Harry Turner (Gas Gas) 35, Harry Hemingway (Beta) 40.
Clubman A: Andrew Jackson (Montesa) 12, Jamie Stephenson (Montesa) 13 (mc), Rob Bratley (Sherco) 13.
Over 45: Steve Clarke (Sherco) 45.
Youth B: George Hemingway (Beta) 40, Owen Chestnut (Gas Gas) 41, Henry Stephenson (TRS) 7
Non-competitive: Gavin Black (Sherco) 14, Alice Minta (Scorpa) 15, Andrew Reynolds (Beta) 31.
Clubman B: 1 Phillip Hammond (Sherco) 4, Howard Dixon (Yamaha) 6, Andy Turner (Beta) 7.
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